How The Odyssey Changed Jon Bernthal’s Approach To Acting

Jon Bernthal is known for a great many things, like his Frank Castle yell, his ability to make the phrase “Let me tell you something” iconic, and more. Now, he’s bringing his unique style as an actor to Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey as Menelaus, the king of Sparta.

Bernthal, who recently starred in Dog Day Afternoon on Broadway, has extensive theater training. He studied at the Moscow Art Theatre School in Russia, but acting for the stage is very different from performing in front of a camera.

Bernthal had to learn not to perform as though he were still onstage, projecting to everyone in the room and the audience beyond it. He found film acting smaller and more contained, allowing him to bring characters to life in a more grounded and often more realistic way.

When it came to The Odyssey, however, the scale of Nolan’s Greek epic gave the film a theatrical quality. That allowed Bernthal to perform in a way he typically wouldn’t for the camera.

CBR spoke with Bernthal and his co-star Lupita Nyong’o at the New York junket for The Odyssey, where Bernthal shared how his theater training forced him to have an adjustment period when it came to acting on camera.

“I felt like I had a lot of problems when I first started acting in front of the camera because all I tried to do was perform for the crew,” Bernthal said. “That’s what I thought acting was: performing for the folks who were there.

“But, interestingly, on this project specifically, the characters we play are so public, so well known and so iconic — even for their time — that they are constantly being watched. Whether they’re purposely trying to shun their audience or performing for that audience, I really felt like this was the closest we came to performing for the crew — or even just for the people right in front of us. It was really needed, and it really worked in this medium.”

Jon Bernthal’s Take on King Menelaus

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Bernthal is the kind of actor who really makes a character his own. Fans have loved his take on Frank Castle in The Punisher and the subsequent Marvel projects in which the character has appeared. But Bernthal’s breakout also began with his work as Shane on The Walking Dead.

Rick Grimes’ (Andrew Lincoln) friend and partner-turned-nemesis left many fans with complicated feelings about him. Bernthal’s range became even clearer when his performance didn’t leave him typecast as a villain.

Shane isn’t exactly a beloved figure in the world of The Walking Dead, but Bernthal has continued to play characters that change how fans view him as an actor. Who knew we could love Frank and hate Shane at the same time?

Luckily, roles in films like Ava DuVernay’s Origin and Edgar Wright’s Baby Driver have continued to prove his abilities. In Nolan’s The Odyssey, he does incredible work as Menelaus tells Telemachus (Tom Holland) about the Trojan War through the eyes of someone who experienced it.

Bernthal’s scenes include Menelaus teaching Telemachus about his father, Odysseus (Matt Damon) , during the young man’s visit to Sparta. He also appears in flashbacks with Odysseus during the attack on Troy and its aftermath.

Menelaus is married to Helen of Troy (Nyong’o), whose departure with Paris helped spark the war. Nyong’o also plays Helen’s sister Clytemnestra, who kills her husband, King Agamemnon (Benny Safdie), partly in revenge for his sacrifice of their daughter Iphigenia.

What makes Bernthal’s performance so great is the distinction between how he plays Menelaus while recounting the story to Telemachus and how he portrays him within the story itself. He could easily play up Menelaus’ importance during the scenes in Troy, but he understands that he is telling a young man about his father.

This is Odysseus’ story, and Menelaus doesn’t try to make himself seem more important simply because he’s the one telling it. Even in the belly of the Trojan horse, Menelaus speaks honestly about what the men suffered to enter Troy, and it is amazing to watch.

You can see Bernthal in Nolan’s The Odyssey, in theaters now.